twigs and soda cans

This weekend I didn't go out very much.

Don sent me a message saying that the new guy in his old shop wouldn't be able to do my transmission for another month, and the next day he said that the guy seemed to prefer working on the newer generation of these cars. It sounds like the guy doesn't want to do it at all. 

Meanwhile the Red car seems to be running warm, but it's being vague about it. I think it could be the thermostat. I will have to look into replacing it, which if I recall isn't super hard, but kinda messy.

On Saturday I cleaned up some shrubs in the back yard.

I trimmed the lower branches of this Hibiscus tree, so I could look into the yard.

I noticed the trimmed twigs looked nice for crafts. 

I sorted them out while the dog took a nap.

Craft stores don't sell twigs. Occasionally they have "driftwood" but it's kinda expensive. I always forget to save the yard trimmings for later, but today I remembered.

I cut them up into various shapes. I do have a project in mind.

I noticed this hummingbird twittering nearby.

I think it was trying to mate with or chase away another bird sitting there.

I took a video, but didn't realize it was super-low resolution.

https://youtu.be/BDtZ8eZGihs

Today, Sunday, I spent my whole afternoon making jewelry.

I didn't even go outside to see if the birds were there.

I made these earrings from "ready made" parts from Hobby Lobby.

I made some bracelets based on ideas I saw on Pinterest:

This one is my favorite. It looks kind of ancient:

These other bracelets were inspired by "energy" kind of bracelets:

There wasn't really a meaning behind the stones, I just liked the color combinations.

Finally I worked on a project I had been thinking about for awhile.

I cut up this soda can into pieces, to turn into earrings. I used regular scissors.

I had this shape in mind (also from Pinterest) :

My hole punch was too large for the holes, so I had to use the point of an x-acto knife.

Here is the final result:

I learned a lot from making this, so I think the next pair I make will be a little more refined.